The Hero World Challenge is a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

tournament hosted by

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

, which takes place each December. It features a small number (currently 20) of top-ranked golf pros. The tournament is a benefit for the

Tiger Woods Foundation TGR Foundation was established in 1996 by Tiger Woods and his father, Earl Woods, to create and support community-based programs that improve the health, education, and welfare of all children in America. Currently, the foundation has establish ...

. The event is part of the PGA Tour schedule, but does not offer

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. T ...

points or official money as it is an unofficial event.

Format

Initially, the tournament had a 16-man field composed of the defending champion, the top 11 available players from the Official World Golf Ranking, and four sponsors exemptions chosen by the Tiger Woods Foundation. In 2008, the field was increased to 18 players, consisting of the most recent winners of the four major PGA tournaments, the top 11 available players from the Official World Golf Ranking, the defending champion, and two special exemption players selected by the foundation. Prize money won by the players is not included in money rankings on any of the world's

professional golf tours Professional golf tours are the means by which otherwise unconnected professional golf tournaments are organised into a regular schedule. There are separate tours for men and women; most are based in a specific geographical region, although some to ...

, but the tournament is recognized as an unofficial money event by the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

. Since 2009, the event offers Official World Golf Ranking points. In 2007 the total prize fund was $5.75 million, similar to many official PGA Tour events, which usually have fields of about 150 players. In 2014, the first prize was $1 million, and the total purse was $3.5 million. Woods usually donates his prize money to his foundation. Hero World Challenge tournament is preceded by a pro-am competition, in which professional golfers play with amateurs. Hero World Challenge pro-am is usually organized two days before the first round of professional play. "Am-Am outing" takes place on the first day, "Official Pro-Am" on the second day. The access to the pro-am competition is limited only to the tournament partners. The pro-am tournament is closed to public. The amateur participants of the 2016 pro-am included, for instance, Derek Jeter and

Tino Martinez Constantino "Tino" Martinez (born December 7, 1967) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1990 t ...

History

In 2000, the tournament was staged twice, with

Tom Lehman Thomas Edward Lehman (born March 7, 1959) is an American professional golfer. A former number 1 ranked golfer, his tournament wins include one major title, the 1996 Open Championship; and he is the only golfer in history to have been awarded th ...

winning the first event in January. The tournament then moved to December of that year, with

Davis Love III Davis Milton Love III (born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer who has won 21 events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship: the 1997 PGA Championship. He won the Players Championship in 1992 and 2003. He was in the ...

winning that event. It has been played in December ever since. The January 2000 event was played at Grayhawk Golf Club in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

. From December 2000 to 2013, the event took place at

Sherwood Country Club Sherwood Country Club is a private, member owned golf and country club in Lake Sherwood, California set at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains just south of city of Thousand Oaks. Sherwood is home to a championship 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signatur ...

, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus, in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tr ...

. In 2008, Woods did not compete due to knee surgery following his 2008 U.S. Open victory, even though he was the two-time defending champion. He did not play in 2009 due to time spent away from golf related to personal matters. Woods returned to the event in 2010. In 2011, Woods won the tournament with a score of −10, defeating

Zach Johnson Zachary Harris Johnson (born February 24, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has 12 victories on the PGA Tour, including two major championships, the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open Championship. In 2023, Johnson will captain the U. ...

by one shot. Woods made birdie on the final two holes to win; it was his first win in over two years, since the 2009 Australian Masters. It was called the Chevron World Challenge from 2008 through 2011. It previously went by the names Williams World Challenge and Target World Challenge. In 2012, new sponsor

Northwestern Mutual Northwestern Mutual is an American financial services mutual organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The financial security company provides consultation on wealth and asset income protection, education planning, retirement planning, investm ...

was the presenting sponsor instead of a title sponsor. They became the title sponsor in 2013. In 2014, Hero MotoCorp became the title sponsor. In 2015, the event moved to the Albany development in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

Television

The first World Challenge was televised by the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

and NBC Sports. It was then covered by USA and

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televisi ...

from 2000 to 2006. It has been televised by

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC S ...

and a returning NBC since 2007.

Winners

References

External links

*
Coverage on the PGA Tour's official site
* {{Coord, display=title, 25.0150, -77.5056 PGA Tour unofficial money events Golf in Arizona Golf in California Golf in Florida Golf tournaments in the Bahamas Sports in Scottsdale, Arizona Sports in Ventura County, California Sports in Thousand Oaks, California Tiger Woods Recurring sporting events established in 1999 1999 establishments in Arizona Hero Group